Spain and the United Kingdom have recently reached an agreement on Gibraltar that will facilitate access to the territory and remove the threat of new restrictions on the border with the European Union as soon as Britain leaves the bloc on 1 January.
A preliminary agreement has been reached that would help build “shared wealth,” Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya told reporters on Thursday.
Vehicles on 30 December from Spain to Gibraltar.
The area will operate under passport-free Schengen conditions, she said, adding that the final agreement is expected to take effect within six months.
“The gate has been raised,” Gonzalez Laya said. “This allows control between Spain and Gibraltar to be suppressed.”
During a four-year implementation period for the agreement, officials from the European border agency Frontex will assist with control at Gibraltar’s port and airport, with Spain as the party responsible for overseeing Schengen.
The Brexit trade agreement sealed on 24 December did not include a settlement for the British overseas territory with a population of around 32,000. Failure to reach an agreement threatens more intense passport controls, disrupting the flow of goods and the daily commute of thousands of workers.
“We have agreed on a political framework to form the basis of a separate agreement between the United Kingdom and the EU on Gibraltar,” British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said in a statement. “We will now send it to the European Commission to start negotiations on the formal treaty.”
He said the UK remained ‘steadfast’ in its support for Gibraltar and that its sovereignty was protected.
Fabian Picardo, the region’s chief minister, said Gibraltar “absolutely should not worry” that the deal could pave the way for the Spanish Civil Guard to eventually carry out border controls.
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The agreement is a new chapter in the sometimes tense relationship between Spain and the United Kingdom over the small strategic enclave at the entrance to the Mediterranean. Many residents of the area, which has been under British control since 1713, remember a 13-year blockade imposed by Spanish dictator Francisco Franco, which only ended in 1982.
Joint EU membership helped take the sting out of the dispute and allowed the area to thrive on tourism, financial services and online games. The approximately 15,000 people who cross the border for work every day contain many Spaniards from an area with a history of chronic unemployment.
“Almost at the last minute, the negotiation was successfully completed and the clock stopped ticking,” Picardo said at a news conference. “This is serious politics, it is about the future of our children, the strength and growth of our country.”
– With help by Macarena Munoz Montijano
(Updates to the eighth paragraph with British officials’ comments on sovereignty)